


The Boy Next Door

by horanswhore



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-06-05
Updated: 2013-06-08
Packaged: 2017-12-14 01:53:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,377
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/831358
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/horanswhore/pseuds/horanswhore
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The 'boy-next-door' cliche gets taken to a whole new level when a famous band member arrives in town.</p>
<p>My first attempt at a fanfic, here goes...</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Where's the Nandos round here?

‘Maybe she’s just trying to test me, wants to see how hard I’m gonna work, wants to see if I can really tell how much she’s worth.'

 

The sweet sound of One Direction echoed around the empty apartment as Molly danced around the room, paintbrush in hand. She'd only moved in last week and was getting stuck into the decorating. Of course she couldn't make the place her own until she'd christened the place with a 1D sing-along session.

 

Eventually she stepped back to admire her days work: the walls of her living space were now a pretty sky blue to match her bedroom and bathroom. She'd decide to just use the paint cans left in the cupboard by the previous tenant, as to her it didn't really matter what colour the walls were when they would soon be consumed with posters of the boys. Smiling proudly at her handiwork, she crossed over to the kitchen area to make herself a well-earned cuppa from her new kettle, the only appliance her kitchen currently possessed.

 

Just as the kettle clicked, there was a loud crash that seemed to come from the landing outside her apartment. Worriedly, she hurried to the front door and peeked through the tiny spy-hole. Nothing. "How odd," she thought to herself.

 

Molly was just about to pick up the kettle a second time when she heard a second, and even louder, crash. This time she was determined to locate the source. She turned off her docking station and slipped on her comfiest pair of converse out of the three that were lined up by the door. Nervous of what she might find, she opened the front door cautiously and stepped onto the landing. 

 

Once again, there was nothing. She sighed and was about to turn back inside when something captured her attention from the corner of her eye. A pair of Ray Bans. She reached a hand down to the thread-bare carpet to pick them up. She glanced around quickly but there was no one about she took her find back into her apartment.

 

Molly's evening continued, but disappointingly without a third loud crash. Entirely confused, she found herself repeatedly squinting to look at the Ray Bans which were sat neatly on the kitchen worktop. "They remind me of Niall," she thought to herself smiling.

 

Later on, just as she was settling down into bed for the night, there was a third, and louder still, crash. Molly began to mutter under her breath about peoples ignorance and how tired she was. Rubbing her tired eyes, she once again slipped her converse onto her feet, and made her way out onto the landing.

 

The second she opened the door to get a glimpse of the landing, shock overwhelmed her and she found herself swinging the door open a little too quickly: it loudly smacked into the wall and bounced back, hitting her shoulder. "Hey!" she shouted at it.

"Hey yourself."

The strong Irish accent was unmistakable. Her eyes had not deceieved her: Niall Horan was standing in her building, on the landing outside her apartment. She discretely pinched her arm in case she was in fact asleep. When she did not wake up, she took the whole of him in: the faded, baggy tracksuit bottom, the baseball tee and the crisp white trainers, accompanied by the striking blue eyes. Her breathing sped up and her pulse raced.

 

"Sorry, I didn't mean to wake you!" Niall apologised.

Clocking her tatty and frayed pj's, she quickly wrapped her arms across her body. "It's okay, N-Niall," she stuttered.

"There's me trying to sneak in unnoticed so the press don't work out my new location, and I make all this racket!" he laughed confidently, picking up the cardboard box full of things at his feet. As he did, the side of the box split, possessions spilling on across the floor. Niall cursed loudly, shaking his head, starting to pick up the remains of the box.

"I have some cellotape inside, hang on" Molly offered, rushing back inside her apartment. 

"OH MY GOD" she screamed inside her head. She recalled his words: 'my new location'. Had her 1D crush really moved into her building?! Desperate for answers, she frantically pulled open the kitchen drawers and rooted around for the roll of tape she had placed in one of them only this morning.

 

"Nice place you got here."

Quickly turning around, she found that Niall must have followed her inside, and was now stood inside her living room.

"Erm, thanks," she laughed nervously, "I wouldn't call it nice though, the only pieces of furniture I own are my bed, the kettle and that chair in the corner there!"

"You new here too?" he questioned, his eyes maintaining contact with hers as he spoke.

"Yeah, it was always my dream to live the Parisienne lifestyle, but now I'm here, it's not so glamorous!" Molly sighed.

A look of genuine concern washed over Niall's face. "I couldn't cope without a fully stocked kitchen, more to the point, my stomach wouldn't!" Niall's laugh was infectious.

 

Molly could not believe what was happening to her. Not only was Niall in her apartment, they were chatting like old friends! She could not help but smile as she walked over to hand him the cellotape.

Niall took the tape appreciatively from her. Their skin touched briefly, causing a spark of excitement to buzz through Molly's body like electricity. 

"I'm so sorry to have disturbed you," Niall began, "Let me make it up to you? I'll make you breakfast tomorrow morning? My place, 9am?"

Molly was speechless. This whole scenario was like a dream, and she was still waiting for the moment when she would wake up and let reality take over again.

Swallowing back her nerves, Molly nodded slowly and a smile fixed on her face. "That's be amazayn" she laughed before continuing, "Which apartment are you in?"

"I'm just across the hall," Niall smiled his beautiful Irish smile, "I'll see you in the morning, darlin'"

 

And then he was gone, and Molly stood speechless in the centre of the room. What the hell had just happened?!

She was about to go back to bed when, the accent drifted back to her and she noticed Niall was muttering to himself whilst hovering inside her doorway.

"By the way, where's the Nandos round here?"


	2. A Pancake For Your Troubles

After a restless night due the excitement of the previous afternoon, Molly awoke to find sunlight streaming through the gap in her curtains. Glancing at her clock, she was horrified to discover it was only 6am. "Darn," she muttered to herself, knowing she would not fall back to sleep now. Sighing, she sat up in bed and pushed the floral covers aside. Not yet owning any furniture besides her bed, she looked at her bags lying on the bedroom floor with clothes spilling out onto the carpet. "What should a girl wear to have breakfast with Niall Horan?!" she asked herself, a smile creeping across her lips.

 

After spending an hour sorting through her bags and managing to scrape together a couple of potential outfits, she settled for a casual and relaxed look. She didn't want to dress up too much as she knew Niall loved lounging about and enjoying his freedom, so she settled for a pair of light-wash skinny jeans, a checked shirt and her less-worn pair of Converse. For good measure, she threw on her wristband from the Take Me Home Tour. 

She grinned as she thought back to the moment her best friend had bought them a pair of tickets and they'd screamed up at the boys on the moving platform. They'd wildly leapt about and waved like idiots, dreaming of the moment one of the boys noticed their existence. Liam had given them a wave and Harry had sent a cheeky wink in their general direction, but when Niall motioned to their tour tops, Molly's night was made: however small, it was a gesture she would never forget.

 

As the minutes passed waiting for 9am to arrive, Molly sat agitated in her only chair in her living room, anxiously tapping her fingers to the tune of 'She's Not Afraid', her favourite 1D song. The hands on the clock had only just reached seven thirty. She sighed and flung herself upwards to delve in the handbag which was sat on the kitchen worktop. Pulling out her make-up bag and a compact mirror, she checked her reflection and settled for applying mascara and lip-balm. She had tried to tame her naturally wild curly hair earlier, but as usual she had lost the battle and it sprung out all over the place in tight curls. She sighed to herself and sat back down in her chair for the next agonizing part of her wait.

 

The big hand on the clock continued to travel past the numbers at an painfully slow rate, until eventually the time hit 8:50am. Standing up to compose herself, Molly smoothed the crinkles from her shirt and pushed a flyaway strand of hair back on top of her head. Breathing deeply in an attempt to stay calm, she made her way to the door. As an afterthought, she raced back to the kitchen and grabbed the Ray Bans off the worktop so they could be reunited with their owner.

 

Trying to maintain her composure, she left her apartment and made her way across the hall to apartment 16. She smiled to herself as she noticed his door number matches the age he was in his first X-Factor audition. Her hand shaking uncontrollably, she raised it and gently knocked on the door. Every second felt like two, whilst she awaited the moment the door would open and reveal her perfect Irishman. 

After checking her watch and noticing it was 9:02am, she knocked a second time and nervously began tapping her feet. It seemed he wasn't home. He must have forgotten, but Molly wasn't surprised: to someone like Niall, who was a global name, an ordinary girl like her was not going to be at the top of his agenda.

 

She was just turning the key to return into her own apartment when the door of number 16 swung open, almost strongly enough to pull it away from the hinges, revealing Niall standing ruffling his hair. "Mornin'," he yawned, "sorry, took me a while to work out how to undo the bolt on this door!"

 

At Niall's invitation, Molly stepped inside his apartment. The layout was identical to her apartment, but Niall had cardboard boxes crammed full of belongings stacked up covering almost every inch of the avaliable floor space. "Sorry about the mess," he laughed, "I'm useless at the whole being independent thing!"

Niall gestured for Molly to enter the living space, and as she did she was taken aback by how normal it looked. She wasn't really sure what to expect of a celebrity's personal space, but she was relieved when it was just as jumbled and plain as her own apartment. "Oh, before I forget," Molly began, pulling the Ray Bans from her pocket, "I found these on the landing before, I guess they dropped out that broken box."

Niall took then from her. "Thank you so much! I've been looking for these babies all over!" he replied gratefully, whilst placing them onto the collar of his Lions rugby jersey.

 

Over in the kitchen Niall made the gentlemanly gesture if pulling out a stool for Molly at he breakfast bar. She gracefully pushed herself up onto the stool and watched admiringly and he produced two plates full of pancakes drizzled with syrup. "A pancake for your troubles," he grinned gesturing to his Ray Bans.

Molly smiled, suddenly gained some confidence. "Thank you. it's very kind of you to invite me over."

"It's no trouble at all," he replied smiling his charming Irish smile, and taking the stool opposite her at the counter. He opened a drawer on the side and pulled out a set of cutlery for each of them and began to make short work of his pancakes.

 

Throughout breakfast, they chatted like best friends about everything from sports, to fashion to their own personal lives. Niall questioned Molly on her plans for he new life here in Paris, and what she had left behind in England. Surprisingly Molly felt comfortable in Niall's presence and gave him answers that were quite personal and sensitive, feeling at ease as he showed a genuine concern for her.

"So, what brings you to Paris?" Molly asked in return. However much of a wonderful twist of fate it might be that she and Niall were living in the same building, she found herself wondering how he could sustain a life in Paris when he was so busy with the boys, especially with the stadium tour kicking off next year.

"Well, I like France and I thought why not really!" Niall grinned, "I mean, it won't be easy what with all the toing and froing to gigs and that, but I think I need a clean break. I love Ireland, but it's time I did something just for the craic!"

 

Once Molly had finished her delicious helping of pancakes, she gently set down her knife and fork and admired the beautiful Irish Boy sat across from her. Never in her wildest dreams could she possibly have imagined that one day she would eat pancakes with Niall Horan in Paris. It was surreal, but and amazing plot twist in her life.

 

As Niall finished his pancakes, he stretched backwards and rested his hands behind his head. "You know, I broke my bed last night," he said casually.

Molly struggled to stifle a giggle.

"No innuendos!" Niall laughed also. "No seriously, I thought it'd be cool to jump into bed, like literally jump. Only the bed didn't think it was such a good idea! So basically, I need to get a replacement and I know you don't have any furniture in your place yet so wanna go shopping today?"

 

Had Niall Horan, one fifth of the world's biggest boy band just asked her to go shopping with him?!

"S-sure!" she stuttered.

"Great!" replied Niall, grabbing his Ray Bans and snapback, "Let's go!"


End file.
